UK HRC: Domestic mills push prices lower

UK hot-rolled coil (HRC) prices slipped again this week, as domestic sellers competed with a Benelux-based re-roller for speedstock cargoes.

Argus' weekly domestic UK HRC assessment dropped by another £10/t to £375/t ddp West Midlands, with buyers able to book at this level from a few sellers.

Demand remains pretty subdued, with nobody particularly desperate to stock up on material that will arrive in the quiet month of December. This may have factored into the aggressiveness of certain mills that are looking to fill up December rolling programmes.

The constant regression in replacement coil prices is also dampening outsell prices from service centres to buyers.

Import prices into the UK are essentially not competitive, although there may still be some Russian material available. The material was selling at about £360/t ddp a few weeks ago, which some northwest sellers cited when lowering their own prices.

Coil of 2m in width from European sellers is available at £400/t ddp and slightly less. Trading firms hoped for transactions of £415/t ddp, but Turkish mills pulled their offers after ArcelorMittal declared its intent to terminate its purchase of Ilva. Now Turkish sellers have raised offers to $440/t fob, also on the back of increasing scrap costs, and are targeting other markets.

As a result, Indian and Turkish material is probably available at £420/t ddp West Midlands, substantially above domestic offers.